Surfactants are materials which can be generally described as having at least one hydrophobic moiety and at least one hydrophilic moiety per molecule. Surfactants can be classified as anionic, cationic, nonionic, and amphoteric. For example, anionic surfactants can be molecules that can have a negative charge on a hydrophilic moiety, such as in the form of a carboxylate, phosphate, sulfate, or sulfonate. Surfactants can have numerous uses, including as emulsifiers, detergents, dispersants and solubilizing agents. They can find use in emulsion polymerization, as well as in agricultural chemicals, personal care and household products, industrial and institutional cleaners, textile treatments, in oil recovery agents, and in corrosion inhibitors. Thus, they can function as cleaners, wetting agents, and foaming and frothing agents (e.g., for shampoos, car washes, carpet cleaners, dishwashing detergents and the like).
Accordingly, there is an ongoing need for methods of synthesizing surfactants, such as facile methods that provide high yields, as well as synthetic routes that can provide various surfactants and chelating agents.